Murder in Morningside Heights (A Gaslight Mystery) Read Online Free

up hope. “That’s true, but what if we can find the person who killed her and lock them up? Then you can tell the parents that your students are safe again.” It wasn’t much, but it was more hope than Hatch had a moment ago.
    “How do I know you can do that? The police said—”
    “I know what they said, but I can do it. I have references, if you need them. Felix Decker, for one.”
    “Felix Decker? How would a man like that know a private detective?”
    “I solved a murder for him at the Knickerbocker Club,” Frank said, dropping another impressive name. “He also happens to be my father-in-law.”
    Hatch blinked several times, as Frank had expected. He needed a moment to reassess his opinion of Frank Malloy, and when he had, he said, “Perhaps you should have a seat, Mr. Malloy.”
    Frank took one of the leather wingback chairs that sat in front of Hatch’s impressive desk. They were probably intended for rich parents, but he didn’t mind.
    Hatch sank into his own chair and sighed. He picked up Frank’s card and looked closely. It was the engraved one that he used for wealthy clients, although Hatch didn’t look overly impressed. Then he laid it down carefully, respectfully, pulled off his pince-nez, and rubbed his eyes. “And what can you do for us that the police can’t?”
    “It’s more what I’ll do that they
won’t
, Mr. Hatch. I will actually try to find the killer, and I’m good at that. I will also do my best to keep the story away from the newspapers. Miss Northrup’s parents were very concerned about scandal, and I’m sure you are, too.”
    “Of course I am, but I hardly think Miss Northrup was involved in anything scandalous.”
    “She was murdered at a respectable women’s college, which alone is enough of a scandal for the newspapers. I won’t be speaking to any reporters, and you should instruct everyone here to do the same. I’ll also need your permission to speakwith the other professors and some of the students, the ones who knew her.”
    “Is that really necessary? The young ladies are already nearly hysterical over what happened.”
    “They’ll be a lot less hysterical if we catch the killer. I’d also like to look at the place where she was killed and see the place where she lived.”
    “You’ll have to get permission from Miss Wilson for that. She lived at Miss Wilson’s house, not here.”
    “Yes, with two other professors.”
    “Only Miss Wilson is a professor. In fact, she’s the only female professor we have here. She was just elected this school year.”
    “I thought Abigail Northrup was a teacher here, too.”
    “She is . . . I mean was, but not a full professor. She was an instructor, as is Miss Billingsly and the other females who teach here.”
    “And you only have one real professor, this Miss Wilson?”
    “Of course not. We have many male professors. Miss Wilson just happens to be our first female.”
    Frank thought it odd that a college for women had only one female professor, but of course he didn’t know much about colleges. “Can you tell me a little about your college?”
    “I can tell you everything about the Normal School of Manhattan,” Hatch said, a little defensively.
    “How long have you worked here?”
    “I started the school almost twenty-seven years ago.” Here was a subject he felt confident of, and he straightened in his chair. “So many young men had been lost in the War between the States that a lot of young women found themselves with no prospect of marriage and no way to support themselves. Normal schools were opened all over the country to train them for professions.”
    “Why do you call them ‘normal schools’?”
    “Oh yes, I suppose that could sound odd to an outsider. The schools were established to train teachers and to establish normal teaching standards, so they were called normal schools.”
    “So you only train women to be teachers.”
    “That’s right, although some of them choose other professions